Diagnosis at first sight
Mycobacterium malmoense parotid gland infectionInfección parotídea por Mycobacterium malmoense

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Case report

A 2-year old girl visited the clinic with a right preauricular mass. Prior to this, she was healthy, with no medical history of interest and had received all her immunisations. Her parents are from Ecuador and her father had tuberculosis which was treated correctly 10 years ago. Examination revealed a soft, tender mass in the parotid gland measuring 0.5 cm in diameter and high fever at the onset of symptoms. Viral parotitis was suspected and therefore blood tests were ordered, which were

Discussion

Cervical lymphadenitis is the most common manifestation of infection due to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in children, affecting children under the age of 5 years with no associated comorbidites.1, 2, 3 Parotid gland involvement is uncommon.

Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex is the most prevalent pathogen.2, 4, 5 In northern Europe, M. malmoense is one of the most prevalent NTM.6 The mechanism of transmission of NTM remains unclear.3, 4, 7

Lesions tend to be unilateral and

Final comments

NTM-related infections of the parotid gland are rare and MT must be ruled out. Treatment must be personalised after assessing the risk-benefit ratio.

In our case, drug therapy prior to surgery considerably reduced the size of the lesion and minimised aesthetic sequelae.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank everyone from the Paediatrics, ENT and Microbiology Departments at Hospital de Sant Pau.

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Please cite this article as: Juzga-Corrales DC, Moliner-Calderón E, Coll-Figa P, Leon-Vintró X. Infección parotídea por Mycobacterium malmoense. Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin. 2019;37:545–547.

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